The present invention relates generally to random peptides capable of specific binding to gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) transport receptors. In particular, this invention relates to peptide sequences and motifs, as well as derivatives thereof, which enhance drug delivery and transport through tissue, such as epithelial cells lining the lumenal side of the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT). Production of peptides, derivatives and antibodies is also provided. The invention further relates to pharmaceutical compositions, formulations and related methods.
There have been two different approaches to the construction of random peptide libraries. According to one approach, peptides have been chemically synthesized in vitro in several formats. Examples of chemically synthesized libraries can be found in Fodor, S., et al., 1991, Science 251: 767-773; Houghten, R., et al., 1991, Nature 354: 84-86; and Lam, K., et al., 1991, Nature 354: 82-84.
A second approach to the construction of random peptide libraries has been to use the M13 phage, and, in particular, protein pIII of M13. The viral capsid protein of M13, protein III (pIII), is responsible for infection of bacteria. Several investigators have determined from mutational analysis that the 406 amino acid long pIII capsid protein has two domains. The C-terminus anchors the protein to the viral coat, while portions of the N-terminus of pIII are essential for interaction with the E. coli pillin protein (Crissman, J. W. and Smith, G. P., 1984, Virology 132: 445-455). Although the N-terminus of the pIII protein has shown to be necessary for viral infection, the extreme N-terminus of the mature protein does tolerate alterations. In 1985, George Smith published experiments reporting the use of the pIII protein of bacteriophage M13 as an experimental system for expressing a heterologous protein on the viral coat surface (Smith, G. P., 1985, Science 228: 1315-1317). It was later recognized, independently by two groups, that the M13 phage pIII gene display system could be a useful one for mapping antibody epitopes (De la Cruz, V., et al., 1988, J. Biol. Chem. 263: 4318-4322; Parmley, S. F. and Smith, G. P., 1988, Gene 73: 305-318).
Parmley, S. F. and Smith, G. P., 1989, Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 251: 215-218 suggested that short, synthetic DNA segments cloned into the pIII gene might represent a library of epitopes. These authors reasoned that since linear epitopes were often xcx9c6 amino acids in length, it should be possible to use a random recombinant DNA library to express all possible hexapeptides to isolate epitopes that bind to antibodies. Scott, J. K. and Smith, G. P., 1990, Science 249: 386-390 describe construction and expression of an xe2x80x9cepitope libraryxe2x80x9d of hexapeptides on the surface of M13. Cwirla, S. E., et al., 1990, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 6378-6382 also described a somewhat similar library of hexapeptides expressed as gene pIII fusions of M13 fd phage. PCT 30 Application WO 91/19818 published Dec. 26, 1991 by Dower and Cwirla describes a similar library of pentameric to octameric random amino acid sequences. Devlin et al., 1990, Science, 249: 404-406, describes a peptide library of about 15 residues generated using an (NNS) coding scheme for oligonucleotide synthesis in which S is G or C. Christian and colleagues have described a phage display library, expressing decapeptides (Christian, R. B., et al., 1992, J. Mol. Biol. 227: 711-718).
Other investigators have used other viral capsid proteins for expression of non-viral DNA on the surface of phage particles. For example, the major capsid protein pVIII was so used by Cesareni, G., 1992, FEBS Lett. 307: 66-70. Other bacteriophage than M13 have been used to construct peptide libraries. Four and six amino acid sequences corresponding to different segments of the Plasmodium falciparum major surface antigen have been cloned and expressed in the filamentous bacteriophage fd (Greenwood, J., et al., 1991, J. Mol. Biol. 220: 821-827).
Kay et al., 1993, Gene 128: 59-65 (Kay) discloses a method of constructing peptide libraries that encode peptides of totally random sequence that are longer than those of any prior conventional libraries. The libraries disclosed in Kay encode totally synthetic random peptides of greater than about 20 amino acids in length. Such libraries can be advantageously screened to identify peptides, polypeptides and/or other proteins having binding specificity for a variety of ligands. (See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,538 dated Mar. 12, 1996; and PCT Publication No. WO 94/18318 dated Aug. 18, 1994.)
A comprehensive review of various types of peptide libraries can be found in Gallop et al., 1994, J. Med. Chem. 37:1233-1251.
Screening of peptide libraries has often been done using an antibody as ligand (Parmley and Smith, 1989, Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 251:215-218; Scott and Smith, 1990, Science 249:386-390). In many cases, the aim of the screening is to identify peptides from the library that mimic the epitopes to which the antibodies are directed. Thus, given an available antibody, peptide libraries are excellent sources for identifying epitopes or epitope-like molecules of 35 that antibody (Yayon et al., 1993, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:10643-10647).
McCafferty et al., 1990, Nature 348:552-554 used PCR to amplify immunoglobulin variable (V) region genes and cloned those genes into phage expression vectors. The authors suggested that phage libraries of V, diversity (D), and joining (J) regions could be screened with antigen. The phage that bound to antigen could then be mutated in the antigen-binding loops of the antibody genes and rescreened. The process could be repeated several times, ultimately giving rise to phage which bind the antigen strongly.
Marks et al., 1991, J. Mol. Biol. 222:581-597 also used PCR to amplify immunoglobulin variable (V) region genes and cloned those genes into phage expression vectors.
Kang et al., 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:4363-4366 created a phagemid vector that could be used to express the V and constant (C) regions of the heavy and light chains of an antibody specific for an antigen. The heavy and light chain V-C regions were engineered to combine in the periplasm to produce an antibody-like molecule with a functional antigen binding site. Infection of cells harboring this phagemid with helper phage resulted in the incorporation of the antibody-like molecule on the surface of phage that carried the phagemid DNA. This allowed for identification and enrichment of these phage by screening with the antigen. It was suggested that the enriched phage could be subject to mutation and further rounds of screening, leading to the isolation of antibody-like molecules that were capable of even stronger binding to the antigen.
Hoogenboom et al., 1991, Nucleic Acids Res. 19:4133-4137 suggested that naive antibody genes might be cloned into phage display libraries. This would be followed by random mutation of the cloned antibody genes to generate high affinity variants.
Bass et al., 1990, Proteins: Struct. Func. Genet. 8:309-314 fused human growth hormone (hGH) to the carboxy terminus of the gene III protein of phage fd. This fusion protein was built into a phagemid vector. When cells carrying the phagemid were infected with a helper phage, about 10% of the phage particles produced displayed the fusion protein on their surfaces. These phage particles were enriched by screening with hGH receptor-coated beads. It was suggested that this system could be used to develop mutants of hGH with altered receptor binding characteristics.
Lowman et al., 1991, Biochemistry 30:10832-10838 used an improved version of the system of Bass et al. described above to select for mutant hGH proteins with exceptionally high affinity for the hGH receptor. The authors randomly mutagenized the hGH-pIII fusion proteins at sites near the vicinity of 12 amino acids of hGH that had previously been identified as being important in receptor binding.
Balass et al., 1993, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:10638-10642 used a phage display library to isolate linear apeptides that mimicked a conformationally dependent epitope of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. This was done by screening the library with a monoclonal antibody specific for the conformationally dependent epitope. The monoclonal antibody used was thought to be specific to the acetylcholine receptor""s binding site for its natural ligand, acetylcholine.
The common routes of therapeutic drug administration are oral ingestion or parenteral (intravenous, subcutaneous and intramuscular) routes of administration. Intravenous drug administration suffers from numerous limitations, including (i) the risk of adverse effects resulting from rapid accumulation of high concentrations of drug, (ii) repeated injections which can cause patient discomfort; and (iii) the risk of infection at the site of repeated injections. Subcutaneous injection is not generally suitable for delivering large volumes or for irritating substances. Whereas oral administration is generally more convenient, it is limited where the therapeutic agent is not efficiently absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. To date, the development of oral formulations for the effective delivery of peptides, proteins and macromolecules has been an elusive target. Poor membrane permeability, enzymatic instability, large molecular size, and hydrophilic properties are four factors that have remained major hurdles for peptide and protein formulations (reviewed by Fix, J. A., 1996, J. Pharmac. Sci. 85:1282-1285). In order to develop an efficacious oral formulation, the peptide must be protected from the enzymatic environment of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), presented to the absorptive epithelial barrier in a sufficient concentration to effect transcellular flux (Fix, J. A., 1996, J. Pharmac. Sci. 85:1282-1285), and if possible xe2x80x9csmuggledxe2x80x9d across the epithelial barrier in an apical to basolateral direction.
Site specific drug delivery or drug targeting can be achieved at different levels, including (i) primary targeting to a specific organ, (ii) secondary targeting to a specific cell type within that organ and (iii) tertiary targeting where the drug is delivered to specific intracellular structures (e.g., the nucleus for genes) (reviewed in Davis and Jllum, 1994, In: Targeting of Drugs 4, (Eds), Gregoriadis, McCormack and Poste, 183-194). At present there is a considerable amount of ongoing research work in the Drug Delivery Systems (DDS) area, and much of it addresses (i) targeting delivery and (ii) the development of non-invasive ways of getting macromolecules, peptides, proteins, products of the biotechnology industry, etc. into the body (Evers, P., 1995, Developments in Drug Delivery: Technology and Markets, Financial Times Management Report). It is generally accepted that targeted drug delivery is crucial to the improved treatment of certain diseases, especially cancer, and not surprisingly many of the approaches to targeted drug delivery are focused in the cancer area. Many anticancer drugs are toxic to the body as well as to malignant cells. If a drug, or a delivery system, can be modified so that it xe2x80x9chomes inxe2x80x9d on the tumor, then by maximizing the drug concentration at the disease site, the anti-cancer effect can be exploited to the full, while toxicity is greatly reduced. Tumors contain antigens which provoke the body to respond by producing antibodies designed to attach to the antigens and destroy them. Monoclonal antibodies are being used as both delivery vehicles targeted to tumor cells (reviewed by Pietersz, G. A., 1990, Bioconjugate Chem. 1:89-95) and as imaging agents to carry molecules of drug or imaging agent to the tumor surface.
The epithelial cells lining the lumenal side of the GIT are a major barrier to drug delivery following oral administration. However, there are four recognized transport pathways which can be exploited to facilitate drug delivery and transport: the transcellular, paracellular, carrier-mediated, and transcytotic pathways. The ability of a conventional drug, peptide, protein, macromolecule or nano-or microparticulate system to xe2x80x9cinteractxe2x80x9d with one of these transport pathways may result in increased delivery of that drug or particle from the GIT to the underlying circulation.
In the case of the receptor-mediated, carrier-mediated or transcytotic transport pathways, some of the uptake signals have been identified. These signals include, inter alia, folic acid, which interacts with the folate receptor, and cobalamin, which interacts with Intrinsic Factor. In addition, leucine- and tyrosine-based peptide sorting motifs or internalization sequences exist, such as YSKV, FPHL, YRGV, YQTI, TEQF, TEVM, TSAF, and YTRF (SEQ ID NOS:203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, and 210, respectively), which facilitate uptake or targeting of proteins using specific membrane receptors or binding sites to identify peptides that bind specifically to the receptor or binding site.
Non-receptor based assays to discover particular ligands have also been used. For instance, a strategy for identifying peptides that alter cellular function by scanning whole cells with phage display libraries is disclosed in Fong et al., Drug Development Research 33:64-70 (1994). However, because whole cells, rather than intact tissue or polarized cell cultures, are used for screening phage display libraries, this procedure does not provide information regarding sequences whose primary function includes affecting transport across polarized cell layers.
Additionally, Stevenson et al., Pharmaceutical Res. 12(9), S94 (1995) discloses the use of Caco-2 monolayers to screen a synthetic tripeptide combinatorial library for information relating to the permeability of di- and tri-peptides.
A method of identifying a peptide which permits or facilitates the transport of an active agent through human or animal tissues has been developed (see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/746,411 filed Nov. 8, 1996, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety). Phage from a random phage library is plated onto or brought into contact with a first side, preferably the apical side, of a tissue sample, either in vitro, in vivo or in situ, or polarized tissue cell culture. The phage which is transported to a second side of the tissue opposite the first side, preferably the basolateral side, is harvested to select transported phages. The transported phages are amplified in a host and this cycle is repeated (using the transported phage from the most recent cycle) to obtain a selected phage library containing phage which can be transported from the first side to the second side.
Discussion or citation of a reference hereinabove shall not be construed as meaning that such reference is prior art to the present invention.
The present invention relates generally to random peptides and peptide motifs capable of specific binding to GIT transport receptors. Such proteins can be identified using any random peptide library, e.g., a chemically synthesized peptide library or a biologically expressed eptide library. If a biological peptide expression library is used, the nucleic acid which encodes the peptide which binds to the ligand of choice can be recovered, and then sequenced to determine its nucleotide sequence and hence deduce the amino acid sequence that mediates binding. Alternatively, the amino acid sequence of an appropriate binding domain can be determined by direct determination of the amino acid sequence of a peptide selected from a peptide library containing chemically synthesized peptides. In a less preferred aspect, direct amino acid sequencing of a binding peptide selected from a biological peptide expression library can also be performed.
In particular, this invention relates to proteins (e.g., peptides) that are capable of facilitating transport of an active agent through a human or animal gastro-intestinal tissue, and derivatives (e.g., fragments) and analogs thereof, and nucleotide sequences coding for said proteins and derivatives.
Preferably, the tissue through which transport is facilitated is of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, or pelvic colon. The tissue is most preferably epithelial cells lining the lumenal side of the GIT.
The proteins of the invention have use in facilitating transport of active agents from the lumenal side of the GIT into the systemic blood system, and/or in targeting active agents to the GIT. Thus, for example, by binding (covalently or noncovalently) a protein of the invention to an orally administered drug, the drug can be targeted to specific receptor sites or transport pathways which are known to operate in the human gastrointestinal tract, thus facilitating its absorption into the systemic system.
The invention also relates to derivatives and analogs of the invention which are functionally active, i.e., they are capable of displaying one or more known functional activities associated with a full-length peptide. Such functional activities include but are not limited to antigenicity (ability to bind or to compete with GIT transport receptor-binding peptides for binding to an anti-GIT transport receptor antibody) and ability to bind or compete with full-length peptide for binding to a GIT transport receptor.
The invention further relates to fragments of (and derivatives and analogs thereof) GIT transport receptor-binding peptides which comprise one or more motifs of a GIT transport receptor-binding peptide.
Antibodies to GIT transport receptor-binding peptides and GIT transport receptor-binding peptide derivatives and analogs are additionally provided.
Methods of production of the GIT transport receptor-binding peptides, derivatives, fragments and analogs, e.g., by recombinant means, are also provided.
The present invention also relates to therapeutic methods, pharmaceutical compositions and formulations based on GIT transport receptor-binding peptides. Formulations of the invention include but are not limited to GIT transport receptor-binding peptides or motifs and derivatives (including fragments) thereof; antibodies thereto; and nucleic acids encoding the GIT transport receptor-binding peptides or derivatives associated with an active agent. Preferably, the active agent is a drug or drug-containing nano- or microparticle.
The GIT transport-receptor binding proteins of the invention can also be used to determine levels of the GIT transport receptors in a sample by binding thereto.
The GIT transport-receptor binding proteins can also be used to identify molecules that bind thereto, by contacting candidate test molecules under conditions conducive to binding, and detecting any binding that occurs.